The Club
by FotoBridgeT2
Summary: Sara and Sofia don't understand why Nick and Grissom can't figure them out so they decide to forget about the guys and go out and have fununtil they're taken hostage! SoNic and GSR Set preGD and POst Nesting DollsUnbearable


**Blah blah. No ownership implied.**

**I don't understand why everyone assumes that Sara and Sofia hate one another just because of Grissom. They are both very strong characters who have a lot in common. I wrote this because it, well, just popped in my head. I'm going to try to finish it if there is enough interest. **

**Once again, I don't edit and I don't beta so please excuse any errors unless they detract from the general gist of the story.**

"You know what irritates me?" Sofia turned to Sara as they sat in front of their open lockers. "The fact that just because I smile at a guy or laugh with him—they think I'm flirting. I don't want Warrick, or Greg, or Grissom—I just like to laugh. Since when is laughing _flirting?" _

"I know exactly what you mean—but try this one on. Every time I laugh with a guy and Grissom's around I end up on a decomp." Sara sighed, running a brush through her curly hair. She'd had to take a shower—after yet another decomp—and her hair dryer had finally given up the ghost. She made a mental note to bring in a new one. "And the latest rumor? You and I are in a heated, hateful argument over none other than…Grissom. I got passed that ship long ago."

"Did you really? Come on. Truth. It's just us in here." Sofia snickered, pulling her still damp blonde hair up into its customary ponytail. "Girl, I see the way you look at him."

"Ok. Maybe I might still have a few feelings left but I'm doing my best to erase one thought of Grissom out of my mind a day until I eventually reach zero."

"You count the number of thoughts about him? Geeky, Sara, real geeky."

"It's a control thing. I'm now down to twenty or less thoughts an hour pertaining to Grissom. Not work related thoughts, I mean." Sara smirked at the other woman, letting her sarcasm show.

"Sad. Sidle."

"Hey, I notice you didn't mention a certain name on that list of who you didn't want." Sara watched as Sofia's cheeks turned pink.

"What do you mean?"

"Hey, I caught you before shift checking out his ass. He has a nice ass by the way. But I still caught you. How come no one else has noticed? I mean, it was pretty obvious what you were doing."

Sofia had cornered Sara several weeks earlier about not feeling welcomed on the team. Sara had empathized, knowing what it was like to be the odd-woman-out around the lab. They'd both made a concerted effort to be friendlier to one another and were both doing a good job. Especially since Sara had noticed the amount of attention Sofia had been paying to a certain Texan during shift changes. It had surprised the hell out of her when she questioned the former day-shift CSI about her crush. Sofia had appeared remarkably embarrassed by it. Sara understood unrequited attraction as well.

Sofia had assured her that she might flirt with Grissom but she didn't mean anything by it. It was just her nature to say shocking things to members of the opposite sex just to get reactions.

Sara couldn't say she understood it, but now it didn't threaten her. It was also rather nice to have another woman she could talk about things freely with. She and Catherine had never really gotten along and Sofia and Catherine were both too territorial to get along.

It was working out nicely for both Sara and Sofia. Plus it was remarkably entertaining to see all their colleagues apprehensive glances as they waited for Sara and Sofia to get into a knock-down, drag-out over a certain clueless entomologist. And they were playing it up for all it was worth just to see how long it would take others to catch on.

"Why are we doing this to ourselves, Sara?" Sofia suddenly slammed her locker shut. "We're bright, reasonably attractive, young, single, respectable women and here we sit after clocking over eight hours of overtime—again—with neither one of us having plans for the weekend. We should be out enjoying ourselves right now! I say we screw the jerks that can't see what's right in front of their faces and get out there and meet some hot guys. Guys _not _affiliated with the Los Vegas police department or this damned lab!"

"The last guy I met not affiliated with this place tried to slip something in my drink. Was not a great night. I had to call, get this, Greg and Brass to come get me. I thought for sure Grissom would find out and I'd die of utter humiliation." Sara told her skeptically.

"Sara! What the hell happened next?"

"I super-glued his key holes. Both of them. On his brand new BMW roadster. Brass had to keep him from pressing charges for vandalism. Of course, I had to not press charges for attempted rape. It was a bad night." Sara closed her own locker before standing just as Mandy the tech came in with a bleak look on her face and a cell phone clutched in her hand.

"I hate this job sometimes." The woman said removing her glasses and stashing them in her own locker near Sara's.

"What's up?" Sofia asked, on friendly terms with the other woman though she didn't know her well. "Anything we can help with?"

"Just a loser boy—ex-boyfriend who can't seem to understand why I have to work overtime. He's an accountant you'd think he understood the concept of long hours."

"Going to try and work it out?" Sara asked, sympathetic. The lab ruined many relationships and not just those of the CSIs. Techs put in just as many hours.

"Nope. This is just one of a long list of gripes he's given. I hate negative men. They're so much work."

"Ok. Listen to us, we're pathetic. We need to get _out there. _Find some decent guys who _are _interested before we wither away! Sara, we're both off tonight right? Mandy? You?"

At the tech's nod Sofia smiled. "Ok. Why don't we all go home, rest, and then meet over at the Palace Sunsets at ten. They've got a great live band—according to Greg—and it's supposed to be a killer club. This is supposed to be the prime of our lives—so why the hell are we wasting it?"

"Because we are idiots, hung up on completely clueless men?" Sara asked dryly. "Because we are too stubborn to know when to call it quits on lost causes? Because we..."

"We get the picture." Mandy snorted, "I'm in."

"Me too." Sara decided, not wanting to spend another night home alone, pining over his actions. "Ten o'clock. And ladies—I'm taking a taxi."

Sofia nodded and laughed, linking her arm with Mandy's. "This will be great."

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"This will be great, huh?" Sara muttered to Sofia as quietly as possible.

"This was not what I had in mind." Sofia replied just as softly from her seat on the floor between Sara and Mandy. "Mad gun-men storming the place never even occurred to me."

"Hey this is Vegas, shouldn't we have expected something like this? I mean, with our luck?" Mandy asked, eyes not leaving the three obviously inebriated idiots waving around rifles.

They and approximately forty other hostages sat against the walls in the hallway leading to the restrooms. The other sixty or so people in the building had rushed out when the shots had been fired. They'd been crowded into the hall and managed to stick together, finding seats as far away from the gunmen as possible. Three hours had passed and they'd spent all of it waiting for _something _to happen.

"What do you think will happen?" Mandy asked, not used to such tense situations. Her work for the LVPD was completely confined to the lab and after tonight she wanted to keep it that way.

"They'll try to negotiate, get some of us out of here." Sara whispered, eyes watching the closest of the gunmen. The one least drunk. The one responsible for the bouncer's dead body lying near the front door. "Then if that doesn't work, snipers will be in place, tear gas might be used. It's not going to be pretty and it's not going to be easy."

"Did either of you go to the bathroom here tonight?" Sofia asked, mind racing.

"Yes. Pretty standard, six stalls. Windows are too small and aren't easily accessible from the ground. It's not an option." Sara knew what she wanted to know. "We're stuck here until the police get us out."

"This is going to be a really long night." Mandy said, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes.

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"So what's the story, Jim?" Grissom asked as he, Greg, and swing shift ran over to the captain. Catherine, Warrick, and Nick had been finishing a case when the call came in requiring all available CSIs. Grissom had a momentary thought that it was nice they'd be working together again even if things were strained with him and Catherine lately.

"Dead bouncer. Three gunmen and more than forty hostages. We're working to get live feed. No initial contact made just yet." The bulldog of a man told his friend. "We're going to try to ID all still inside."

"Captain! We've got video!" A voice called from a nearby AV van.

"Can you see the hostages?" Jim asked. "Do they seem alright?"

"Yes sir. They're holding them in an interior hallway. Mostly women, sir."

"Why women?" Greg asked, this being his first hostage scene.

"Most likely they believe it is easier to control women than men," Warrick informed him. "And this club has a higher female clientele for some reason."

"You been here before?" Grissom asked quietly.

"Yeah. Few times. Girlfriend likes it."

"What do you remember about the inside?" Jim asked.

"Small, it's kind of exclusive. Hard to get into. That's about it." Warrick looked back over his shoulder when a voice rang out.

"Jim, Grissom, Cath, you all got to see this!" Nick's voice held an edge of panic that he didn't even attempt to hide. It brought the entire team running. "Check out the back row of hostages. Those three right there!" 

"Son-of-a-bitch!" Jim swore, seeing the three familiar faces.

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"You're a real son of a bitch, you know that?" Sara spat in the face of the lead gunman. "What did we ever do to you?"

He'd grabbed her from her seat after pulling her wallet from her pocket and finding her LVPD ID. A second man had yanked Sofia to her feet after seeing her ID as well. Thankfully, Mandy hadn't brought hers and had so far escaped their notice.

"You're a cop!" 

"I am not a cop—I'm a physicist." Sara told him as calmly as she could. "What do you intend doing with all these people?"

"Whatever the hell I want." He laughed and Sara's skin suddenly felt as if Grissom's entire colony of ants were racing across her skin. "But you and your friend are going to come sit right beside me."

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End file.
